Route from Zero to Over? Call me cynical but:
- Airline 1 plans route and gets permission from both ends.
- Someone in one of those places tips off their friends (or even casually mentions) the new route.
- Airline 2 have been thinking about that route and decide to head Airline 1 off from the start.
It's the same way that two different movie companies produce two movies about the same subject at almost the same time ... just a massive coincidence.